


Holding Out

by sqshipforever



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-18
Updated: 2015-06-18
Packaged: 2018-04-05 00:50:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4159356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sqshipforever/pseuds/sqshipforever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post season 4 finale.</p><p>Emma awoke to find herself completely rejuvenated, as if she had just had the best sleep of her life. At least sleep is what she thought it was until visions of tears, piercing brown eyes, and darkness swirled in front of her and the memories came crashing back—what she had done, who she had become, and for who.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Holding Out

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own anything. Just wanted to try something out, not sure if I should continue with this thought or not. I know what I would like to happen, but this is my first time posting anything! While writing is not new to me, fanfic is! Feedback is always appreciated :)
> 
> I added a little more to the end of the chapter!! The second chapter would not flow properly with this at the beginning. :)

It started like any other day, waves crashing on the shore with the faint sounds of seagulls flying overhead. Emma Swan sat on her deck in a silk robe, disheveled curly hair waving in the slight breeze. 

For the middle of summer the air was oddly cool and the blonde took delight in how it felt on her heated pale skin. Her gaze was fixed on the shoreline as if it was the key to figuring out how to process all that was going through her mind.

Clutching her coffee, she took a deep breathe and pushed her gaze in the opposite direction, they had only shared a few minutes of silence before she finally said, “I guess we have a few things to talk about.” She was speaking in an overly hushed tone, aware that the only other person, besides the gorgeous woman sitting next to her, who was remotely close enough to hear her question was Henry.

The blonde didn’t know it, but the 16 year-old already knew what would be said in the coming minutes. He may be _just_ a teenager, but he knew everything in the last six years was leading up to this moment. He had switched the television on to muffle his footsteps towards the patio in an attempt to hear what he knew was coming.

“What is it that you would like to discuss, dear?” the dark-haired woman said through a smirk. Thoughts of the last few minutes left her feeling weightless, elated and eager. She had done the impossible and she was going to enjoy every second of it for as long as she could. 

The blonde looked towards their son with an expression that could only be interpreted as gratitude, despite his attempts at listening in unseen. He smiled a wide toothy grin when he heard his mom say, “how did you know I would say yes?”

“You made a promise to me… a long time ago,” the older woman replied through a grin. “Henry also mentioned something he had noticed during your time as the Dark One.”

Something else was missing from her answer, but Emma knew. She had known for a long time and even as the Dark One, consumed by an insatiable lust for power, the feeling had never left her.

 

* * *

 

_That noise, what in the hell is that noise? It sounds like… yelling or maybe crying… shit… Get up Emma. Now!_

Emma awoke to find herself completely rejuvenated, as if she had just had the best sleep of her life. At least sleep is what she thought it was until visions of tears, piercing brown eyes, and darkness swirled in front of her and it all came crashing back—what she had done, who she had become, and for who… _that damn woman…_ _Regina, Madame Mayor, the Evil Queen._

A shiver ran up her seemingly straighter spine as she rubbed her temples in slow circles to try and get a better grip on reality. Glancing down at herself as she jumped to her feet, Emma knew that something about her physical appearance had changed. Shaking her now shimmering arms and legs made her body pulse in excitement and fear. A slow smirk threatened to etch across her features as she held her gaze on the ground below.

The realization was instantaneous; she needed to expel some of the power, the rage, and darkness that enveloped her senses. It was coursing through her veins, like a drug—easily addictive and highly potent.

A soft gasp and whimper gave her reason to pause. 

“Emma?” Snow White said with what sounded like hesitation cut with the usual tinge of naïve hope. 

The shimmering blonde said nothing.

Standing in silence. _It’s funny,_ she thought, _so much was risked to ensure that I would remain pure, sweet, innocent and good. Instead, I am the darkest being in existence…and for what. Regina._

David spoke slowly, “Emma, please tell us that you are alright.”

Flinching at his choice of words. _Alright,_ Emma thought, _alright. What does that even mean?_

The nagging in the back of her mind said she ought to reassure her parents—to tell them that she could fight this, that she was still strong enough to manage the dark power threatening to escape her fingertips.

“Aye Swan, say something,” Hook said with clear trepidation in his voice.

Silence.

Emma could hear the sound of others approaching the scene, and immediately recognized the sound of her son’s not so graceful footsteps against the pavement.

 _No… No, he can’t see me. I can’t risk his safety._ Henry may not be a little boy anymore and he may have managed to save everyone from the author and his twisted sense of irony, but Emma was and remains, at least partially, to be the Savior. The one Henry looked to as the Knight in shining armor. 

 _‘Shining armor,’ of course I am shining, my skin is glowing, but I am the shiny Dark One. Oh the irony… but you did this for his Mom, for Regina. He cannot see this, run._ Emma thought, and knew that she had to act quickly.

Emma had been painfully aware of Regina’s presence from the moment she had risen as the Dark One and her thoughts seemed to continually end with her.

_Regina. Madame Mayor. The Evil Queen._

All it took was to turn her head ever so slightly and see the eyes that she could feel burning over her glistening body, full of tears and what looked like confusion and heartache—but after a moments hesitation she refused and with a flick of her wrist the Dark One disappeared into the night. 

Through small sobs and ragged breathing Snow asked, “Why would she leave like that?”

Her husband tried desperately to find the right thing to say, to somehow console her, “I don’t know Snow, but we will see her again soon. This is Emma, she is strong and brave and we can always be sure that there is goodness in her heart.”

Emma could hear her parent’s words clearly from her hiding place in the darkened alleyway adjacent to the main street where so much had just taken place. She could see Henry, standing like a statue, mouth open and eyes wide. _They haven’t told him yet,_ she thought, _here it comes…. 3…. 2…. 1._

As if right on cue, the voice she was expecting to hear finally broke through, the words coming out like music to her ears. “She left for Henry,” Regina stated as if this was a fact she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt. “There is no way she would have let our son see her in her current condition—she wants to protect him.”

 _Shit, here comes more bad news, sorry kid._ She held her breath and watched intently.

Regina took a calming breathe in and began telling Henry all that had transpired over the last few minutes. Her confidence only shattered once as she said, “she sacrificed herself… for me, for my happy ending.” Emma could sense the distress in her voice and knew that Regina was hanging on by a thread.

After what felt like several minutes, Henry finally spoke, “Mom may be the Dark One now, but she is also the product of true love, the Saviour and that has to count for something. Even with darkness inside of her, I know that part of Emma, my mom, will still be there and she won’t hurt anyone. She won’t, I have hope!”

 _Jeez kid, you are a Charming through and through. I am still here. I’ll fight it. Promise,_ Emma thought to herself. She watched Regina pull Henry into a hug as silent tears fell across her cheeks and Emma had to use everything she had not to run into the street and join the pair’s embrace.

The feelings of hope, family and love disappeared as if a switch had been flipped with Henry’s next words.

“The dagger—did she take it? We need to find it, keep it safe”

Filling with rage, Emma’s mind raced, _my dagger,_ she thought in a panic, knowing all too well what that dagger could do after all that the town had been through with Rumple. _Where the hell is it? You dropped it in the street, you idiot. NO! That dagger is mine!_

In the blink of an eye and without hesitation, as if something in the dagger was calling to her and pulling her near, Emma stood in front of the group on the street. Dagger in hand, magic pulsing through her, she was ready to strike at the thought of someone else gaining that type of power over her, the control to bend her will and force her hand in any direction.  

 _It’s time,_ she thought, _show them just what you are capable of and watch the terror settle in._

Just as she raised the dagger to release the building rage ebbing it’s way from somewhere so deep within her, she caught them, Regina’s eyes that were silently begging her to not give in, to fight. Those eyes that pleaded with her to put the dagger down and allow the darkness to consume its chosen victim earlier that night, were now asking her again, to put the dagger down.

Something froze the Savior, a feeling, like a small tug on her heart and a whisper in her ear that won her inward battle with the darkness and pushed her to do the most unexpected thing of all. Emma took three treacherous steps forward that felt as if her entire body was filled with lead and handed the dagger to Regina without saying a word or looking into those big brown eyes—for the second time that night, she flicked her wrist and disappeared, but this time her silent retreat was to somewhere much further away.

 

 

 

 


End file.
